Lunch on the Station

Posted on Sat May 22nd, 2010 @ 5:19pm by Lieutenant Commander Aishel Enor [Blackhawk] & Lieutenant JG Andrew Townsend (USS Blackhawk)

1,549 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Italian Eatery
Timeline: 1345 hours

Aishel and the others were onboard and were wandering around, looking for a good restaurant. Finally they found an Italian restaurant and went inside. After sitting down, Aishel looked down at her menu. There was lots of good stuff here. It was a little chilly though and she wished she was wearing more than a low-cut shirt and shorts.

"Stuff looks good."

Tyrone smiled. "Yeah, it does."

Jax asked the computer the time. "Crap! I gotta meet Wes. He's going to arrive on the Blackhawk in half an hour."

He left the three of them alone.

Tyrone's eyes went between Aishel and Andy. "I could use a beer."

Aishel's eyes widened. "They have beer here."

"Not my brand."

"Tyrone!"

She awkwardly turned back to Andy. "Tyrone can be a little inconsiderate at times," she said with a nervous laugh.

"Seems to alright to me." Andy replied, swallowing slightly. He wasn't sure how she'd react to being alone with him in a social setting, but knew only time would be able to tell. "So what did you fancy?" He asked, and realised how that sounded. "To eat, I mean?"

"The veal parmigiana sounds good. But the Fettuccine Marsala sounds good too."

This time, she resolved to have water except for one glass of wine with her meal.

Andy nodded slowly. "I tend to favour the pizza myself. I always say, if you want real pizza, go to those who make it best." He scanned the menu they had and glanced to her. "How about we stick to soft drinks for the most part?" He knew she wouldn't want to do any heavy drinking.

She gave him a grateful smile. "Sure."

The waitress came over. "Dr Pepper and veal parmigiana," Aishel ordered.

"Spicy Mushroom and Black Pepper pizza." Andy said with a grin. "And a diet cola." He was watching his sugar intake. "So where'd you learn to surf like that?" He asked her, wanting to keep pleasant conversation between them.

As the waitress left, Aishel turned to the man in front of her. She knew hardly anything about him except that he was in intelligence. "So tell me about yourself. What is there to know about the enigmatic Andrew Townsend?"

Contemplating the question, he smiled. "I enjoy reading. I like to make music, and I take long walks on the Holodeck." He said, watching her. "Nothing really special."

"What kind of music? I usually listen to Bajoran and Trill music, sometimes old Earth Country music." Aishel was getting interested. She loved music.

Waving a hand, as if it wasn't that important, Andy smiled. "Jazz, blues, Earth Classical. I tend to play the piano by times."

Aishel smiled. "I don't play the piano, but I do paint. My fourth host, Telkas, was a painter. He painted the portraits of afterlives from different cultures. He was the one who painted Fire Below, Paradise Above, and Halls of Valhalla."

"Halls of Valhalla I have heard of." Andy replied. "It had a certain style that appealed to me, though I can never quite explain why." He looked at her in a new way, a sort of shining impressed light in his eyes.

"I don't really paint like that, but I do a fair impression of a sunset." The waitress came back with their food. Aishel sat back to allow the waitress to put down the plates and her foot brushed his; she quickly moved it.

Andy glanced at her when he felt her foot, and saw her expression. Glancing down to the food, he knew it had only been an accident. "So what sort of things do you paint now?" He asked, curious.

Aishel grinned. She still loved painting. "Landscapes, scenery, sometimes I paint people...all kinds of things. I love painting scenes from Trill. I love the ocean sunsets." she smiled as she took a bite of her food.

Interested, Andy made a noise in his throat at that. "Oh yeah?" He picked up the napkin to wipe a spot of sauce from his chin and smiled. "If you'd be willing, I'd love to see some of it."

She smiled wider. "Sure. Maybe sometime tonight?" She took another bite of veal; she loved her meat.

"That would be lovely." Andy said with a nod of his head, eating more of the pizza. "I'm sorry I don't have anything to show you in return."

Aishel smiled. "I'm sure you'll find a way."

He looked up, suddenly. "Not unless you'd like to see me play on the Holodeck? I can pull off some Beethoven beautifully."

That caught Aishel's attention. "Do you know any Tchaikovsky?"

Thinking abut that, Andy shook his head briefly. "Not at the moment. However, if you have something of his you really like, I could learn it." He said, lifting his glass to her.

She took another bite of food. "I really like the Nutcracker. One of my favorite ballets."

"I'll see what I can do." Andy said, giving her a look. "I realise we got off to an... interesting start. However, I want you to know, my intentions are strictly honourable."

She hesitated for a moment. "I knew that was probably the case. It's just...I never let myself get that drunk and it's embarrassing."

Taking a moment before responding, Andy composed his thoughts, and reached out a hand to take hers. "The way I see it. We were both consenting adults. We did nothing illegal, and we both enjoyed ourselves. Now, I am not going to expect anything to come of it, except maybe a possible friendship, if you'd like." Sure, he wanted more, she was - as the saying went - drop dead gorgeous. Yet, he wasn't going to force anything that she didn't want.

Reassured, Aishel gave him a genuine smile. "You're right. I'm being silly." She tried to laugh it off. "A friend would be great. It would be nice to have someone to talk to besides the guys."

He raised an eyebrow at that and couldn't help a grin. "I am a guy. But, you're right, I'm not 'one of the guys'." He finish off his drink and studied her for a moment. "As for being silly, no. I should think embarrassed is normal."

She held his hand, looking into his eyes. "Yeah, you are definitely not one of the guys. You're not as...macho." Her eyes widened at what she said. "Okay, that sounded bad."

Letting out a light laugh, Andy smiled at her. "It's okay. I know not a 'man's man' as the phrase is, so you don't have to worry about insulting me."

They enjoyed the rest of their meal, talking and flirting. Hopefully the evening would not end with the meal. Although, it might not be the best idea to end it in her quarters again.

Aishel sipped the last of her water. "So what do you have planned for the rest of shoreleave?"

Waving a hand, Andy knew he had no special plans. "Oh, you know, this and that. I hadn't actually made any plans for shore-leave. Never do. Like to keep my options open. How about you?"

Aishel looked around for the waitress who was just coming by with a picture of ice water. "I already bought a new dress, which you've seen, so I thought maybe looking around at the new holocameras. I've been talking to Schmitz and he's teaching me holophotography. I'm a great painter, but really bad holophotographer at the moment. He had to show me where to press to take the picture," she confided, looking sheepish.

Andy couldn't help a small laugh at that. "Well, I'm sure there was a time when Michelangelo didn't know how to hold a brush, so I won't hold it against you."

Aishel laughed too. It felt good to have a friend to laugh with. "Thanks."

Setting his empty plate aside, Andy just gave her a boyish grin. "Glad to be of service." He said. "Though, I dare say we've been here plenty. Was there anything you wanted to do now, or should we call it a day?"

Enor shook her head. "I'm getting tired. Right now what I want to do is curl up with a good book and a cup of chocolate milk."

Andy inclined his head to her. "As you wish. May I escort you to your quarters?" He was ever the gentleman. "I promise, not a foot past the door. Word of honour."

Enor smiled and said, "Sure." They paid and made their way back to the ship, where they stopped on Deck 7 at Aishel's quarters. She stopped outside the door, facing him. "Well, thanks for walking me home. It's...unusual to find a guy who'll do that now when he's not dating a girl."

Andy smiled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm that kind of guy." He gave her a warm smile and took half a step back. "I hope you have a pleasant evening, and hope to see you at some point in the future."

Aishel returned the smile. "Thank you. I hope we'll see each other again soon. Good night."

"Good night." Andy replied, and headed away from her, rounding the corner in the corridor, and disappearing.

OFF:

LCdr Aishel Enor
Chief Engineer
USS Blackhawk

LtJG Andy Townsend
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Blackhawk

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